Bitburg high school students run through Germany Published March 24, 2010 By Denny Lemmon Bitburg High School SPANGDAHLEM AIR BASE, Germany -- The Bitburg High School Barons know a person can substantially improve their health and quality of life by including only moderate amounts of physical activity in their lives. Therefore, Bitburg High School Barons will be joining world class marathon runner Paul Staso on his 500-mile solo run through Germany. The run for fun begins March 8 and will conclude March 30, for a total of 22 days. He will push an 80-pound stroller of gear he fondly calls "Bob." The trek through Germany will require him to average nearly a marathon, 26 miles, a day for more than 22 days. During this run, Paul Staso will be virtually racing teams of young people, more than 20 thousand students, who are located in schools around the globe, ranging from kindergarteners to high school seniors. They will run or walk at their respective schools while he will actually be on the road enduring various weather conditions and demanding terrain aiming to inspire, motivate and educate. The Germany challenge, called the 2010 Promoting Active Children Everywhere Trek Germany, is his way of trying to make an impact on childhood obesity and the continuing decline of youth health and fitness. It is not Mr. Staso's first trek. In 2006 he ran solo across the United States for a total of 3,260 miles in 108 days. In 2008 he ran solo 620 miles in 20 days across the state of Montana, and in 2009 he ran solo through Alaska for a total of 500 miles in 18 days. The Bitburg Barons entered two teams consisting of students from physical education classes. Mr. Staso will be covering more than 166 miles per week for the 21-day run through Germany. For a team of 60 students to keep up with him, each student will need to contribute 3 miles per week. That is the students' goal. As he runs 500 miles through Germany, students can follow him by logging on to his "online classroom." This is the Web site to view pictures, video clips and information about Germany, health and fitness tips and journals of his daily challenges. Mr. Staso will be presenting more than 25 school assemblies to the various Department of Defense Dependent Schools along his route. The 2010 P.A.C.E. Trek Germany Web site allows students to track his progress live through the online classroom via satellite tracking technology that uses Google Maps to show his location each day of the event. He arrived here March 23, and has already run nearly 400 miles. On March 24, he spoke at Spangdahlem Middle School and at the Spangdahlem Elementary School. He will then run to the Bitburg housing complex in the afternoon. He will start his day with assemblies at Bitburg High School 8:30-9:30 a.m. March 25. Mr. Staso will bring his Eifel assemblies to a close 10-10:30 a.m. at the Bitburg Elementary School and at the Bitburg Middle School 11:10 .m. - 12:15 p.m. He will then begin his final 100 miles March 26 as he runs over the Huensrueck Mountains on his way to the Kaiserslautern Military Community. It is there that he will complete 2010 P.A.C.E. Trek Germany. All this information can be found at www.pacetrek.com/germany.